First through Facebook, than through Unzipped I found out that a group of Armenian journalists and photographers have issued a statement protesting recent arrests and detention of their colleagues and bloggers in Iran, following disputed presidential election and post-election protests in Tehran.
While I support the statement wholeheartedly, something that fells a little uneasy about this statement is the fact, that the same “Armenian journalists and photographers” didn’t seem to move a finger when their collegues were beaten and threatened in Armenia, but in case of Iran – they dash out like this. Is there something I don’t understand?
Armenian blogs discussed Iran again this week, alongside the general amnesty declared by the Armenian parliament that set free a number of jailed oppositionists ahead of the PACE session. The car-crash of two key actors from highly popular “Vorogayt” show and the death of pop-superstar Michael Jackson attracted much attention, while social networks were lively with discussions about protests staged by nationalists during the visit of Georgia’s president Mikhail Sahakashvili.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted in favor of resolution 1677 on Wednesday, pointing to the need to continue ongoing regular monitoring procedure with respect to Armenia.
The National Assembly of Armenia adopted a decision on announcing amnesty on Friday. The initiative, put forward by the President’s administration, is primarily seen as a move to ease political tension in the society and release 56 opposition supporters charged in connection with post-election violence in Yerevan in March 2008.
The Armenian Blogosphere radioprogram follows the developments between the traditional media and the blogosphere.
